Radiolytic process for derivation of a synthetic fuel element from an input gas

ABSTRACT

Combustible synthetic fuel is produced by radiolytic separation of a raw material gas such as CO 2  having a combustible element CO by exposure to neutron radiation in the presence of an intermixed inert gas such as helium. The helium serves both to absorb radiation energy for transfer to the raw material gas thereby increasing available energy and also serves as a dilutant which decreases possibilities of explosive recombination of dissociated elements thereof, and the mixture provides a convenient carrier vehicle from which the desired synthetic fuel element can be separated efficiently by methods known in the existing state of technology.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to an improved process for deriving synthetic fuel components from low cost non-fossil gaseous fuel raw material sources by radiolysis preferably from neutron energy such as available from fusion reactions.

More specifically the invention provides for derivation of CO from CO₂ by exposure to radiolysis.

BACKGROUND ART

At the present stage of the art thermonuclear fusion reactions are excited by laser ignition or magnetically confined plasma processes to yield neutrons.

The released fusion energy for these two processes is in the form of very energetic (˜14 MeV) neutrons. It is important to convert this kinetic energy to a useful form efficiently without degrading it all to the low thermal energy level of steam for the Rankine cycle.

It has heretofore been proposed that water may be dissociated to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide to produce carbon monoxide radiolytically by neutron radiation, and various patents and patent applications in this field have been issued to the assignee of this invention.

It has also been proposed that the gaseous additive NO₂ in mixture with CO₂ can serve as an inhibitor to prevent explosive back reaction of the dissociated elements such as CO and O₂. Also, SF₆ has been used as an additive. A paper reporting on the radiolysis kinetics of CO₂ summarizing various literature reports was published with the inventor as a co-author in connection with the ACS Symposium on Numerical Methods in Kinetics in New Orleans, March, 1977 (PO-D-77-152).

The article entitled "A Numerical Model of Carbon Dioxide Radiolysis" by R. Kummler et al., published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, 81,2451 (1977), sets forth the general state of the art and literature in the field in which this invention is made.

Thus, considerable theoretical and experimental research effort has been expended in an effort to increase the yields of desirable end products produced by neutron radiolysis. This invention is directed to an improved and safe method of deriving a synthetic fuel component from radiolytically dissociated gases.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one embodiment of this invention the raw material gas CO₂ is mixed with the inert gas He and exposed to neutron radiation for dissociation of the CO₂ into CO and O₂ with the synthetic fuel element CO being the desired end product separated from the resulting He, CO, O₂, CO₂ mixture. The He serves both as an energy absorber-transfer medium producing more of the neutron energy from fast neutrons available in fusion reactions for dissociating the CO₂ gas elements, and further it serves as a dilutant which lessens the chance for any explosive recombination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a graph obtained from a computer simulation of operating experiments showing achievement of a G(CO) of the order of 9 obtained with the He/CO₂ mixture proposed herein, and

FIG. 2 is a graph showing experimental test results confirming a G(CO) in the order of 9 for various He/CO₂ mixtures.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In the preferred process mode provided in accordance with the present invention, neutron radiation derived from a fusion reaction is the radiation source. Thus, a mixture of He and CO₂ is injected into a chamber receiving high energy neutron radiation from the fusion reaction of a thermonuclear reactor, preferably of the laser ignited D-T pellet class. Other radiation sources could be used.

Radiation exposure of the He during the thermonuclear reaction yields helium ions, excited states and thermally hot electrons. Some CO₂ parent and secondary ions and excited states are also created as in prior art CO₂ radiolysis processes.

These CO₂ related species created in the energy deposition process with only CO₂ with prior art gaseous techniques and mixtures yield CO at radiolytic efficiencies designated by G(CO) levels which reach a limitation in the order of 7.8 with high dose rates as reported in the previously identified paper.

Reference can be made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,024, R. A. Lee, issued Dec. 20, 1977, wherein SF₆ is a gaseous additive to a CO₂ -NO₂ mixture for increasing the yield of CO in a radiolysis process about 30%.

It is an object of this invention to improve the G(CO) level.

Furthermore, as the concentration of CO and O₂ increases in a mixture the tendency of recombination is a limitation on the yield G(CO).

It is a further object of this invention to reduce the effect of recombination in the radiolysis process for deriving CO from CO₂.

Thus, by adding He with a concentration ratio He/CO₂ such that most of the radiation energy is absorbed in the He, the transfer of that energy to the CO₂ increases the efficiency of CO yield and thus the G(CO).

Other inert gases can be used but helium produces the highest conversion efficiency when used as a transfer medium in the manner stated.

Additionally there is a decreased probability of any explosion caused by recombination of the CO and O₂.

The lower limit of inflammability of CO in O₂ at one atmosphere and room temperature is 15.5% (Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 51st Edition, p. D-83). Thus, in a pure CO₂ radiolysis system the yields might be constrained in some process steps to less than 15.5%. In a CO₂ /He system high yields of CO₂ conversion to CO, i.e. approaching 100% may be achieved without creating similar difficulties.

An understanding of the principles believed to be involved in this invention as presently advised and understood can be obtained as follows. The ionization potentials and the excitation potentials of the ions and excited states of the rare gases are quite well known and are given in Table 1.

                  TABLE 1                                                          ______________________________________                                         Energy States in Irradiated Rare Gases (in eV)                                 R     R.sup.+     R*          R.sub.2.sup.+                                                                        R.sub.2 * (bands)                          ______________________________________                                         He    24.58   .sup.2 S.sub.1/2                                                                       19.81  S.sub.1                                                                             23.3  13.9 [c]                                                     20.61 .sup.1 S.sub.0                                                           21.21 .sup.1 P.sub.1                                     Ne    21.56   .sup.2 P.sub.3/2                                                                       16.61 .sup.3 P.sub.2                                                                       20.9  10.6 [c]                                     21.66   .sup.2 P.sub.1/2                                                                       16.67 .sup.3 P.sub.1                                                           16.71 .sup.3 P.sub.0                                                           16.84 .sup.1 P.sub.1                                     Ar    15.75   .sup.2 P.sub.3/2                                                                       11.56 .sup.3 P.sub.2                                                                       14.7  9.5 [c]                                      15.93   .sup.2 P.sub.1/2                                                                       11.62 .sup.3 P.sub.1                                                                             5.2 [d]                                                      11.72 .sup.3 P.sub.0                                                           11.82 .sup.1 P.sub.0                                                 14.1, 14.3 [e]                                                     Kr    14.00   .sup.2 P.sub.3/2                                                                        9.91 .sup.3 P.sub.2                                                                       13.0  8.3 [c]                                      14.66   .sup.2 P.sub.1/2                                                                       10.03 .sup.3 P.sub.1                                                                             4.0 [d]                                                      10.56 .sup.3 P.sub.0                                                           10.64 .sup.1 P.sub.1                                     Xe    12.13   .sup.2 P.sub.3/2                                                                        8.31 .sup.3 P.sub.2                                                                       11.2  7.0 [c]                                      13.43   .sup.2 P.sub.1/2                                                                        8.43 .sup.3 P.sub.1                                                                             3.6 [d]                                                       9.44 .sup.3 P.sub.0                                                            9.57 .sup.1 P.sub.1                                     ______________________________________                                    

Higher lying excited states will decay collisionly and by radiative transitions down to the lower lying states. The 3P₁ and 1P₁ states are normally considered to be unstable because of their short radiative lifetime. At high pressure (P>1.0 ATM), however, that radiation will be trapped and therefore we can treat these states as if they were metastable states. The 3P_(o) and 3P₂ states are metastable according to the ΔJ=1 selection rule. Once an excited state is formed it can react with a ground state rare gas atom, R, to produce the dimer ion R₂ ⁺ +e, and the excited state can also react in three-body fashion with ground state rare gas atoms to form the excimer, R₂ *. Excimer formation has been found to occur even by reactions of the lowest resonant state of xenon. Therefore it is assumed all rare gas excited states are probably capable of forming excimers. The ions R³⁰ will also react in a three-body fashion with ground state rare gas atoms to form the dimer ion R₂ ⁺. This termolecular process is much faster than the formation of excimers. The dimer ions react with electrons to form a lower lying excited state R*. The excimer species, having no ground state, is lost primarily by radiation.

If a foreign gas such as CO₂ is introduced to this system, several additional reactions will occur. Since the ionization potential of CO₂ is lower than the ionization potential for any of the rare gases, except xenon, and because the ionization potential is lower than the excited state energies of helium and neon, it is possible for charge transfer to occur from any rare gas ion whose ionization potential is greater than that of CO₂, and it is also possible for chemi-ionization to occur as the excited state energy of the rare gas atom is greater than the ionization potential of CO₂. In the case of helium ion and argon, the dimer ion can also charge transfer to CO₂.

The major features of the He/CO₂ interaction may be stated briefly as follows. The system concentrations are selected such that most of the ionization and excitation energy which goes into helium eventually winds up in the minor species, CO₂. Therefore, the efficiency of production of CO remains at least as great as in a pure CO₂ system, despite the greatly lowered concentration of CO₂. However, in addition, the charge transfer reactions involving He⁺ and CO₂ are dissociative in nature and therefore, an increase in the G(CO) is expected as a result of the dissociative charge transfer processes. The same is true of the Penning ionization reactions involving He*. In addition, the electrons which do not have enough energy to ionize or excite helium, and are therefore called sub-excitation electrons, do have sufficient energy to ionize and excite CO₂. Hence, an incremental addition to the G value will be obtained from these sub-excitation electrons.

The primary G values for the helium system are presented in Table 2.

                  TABLE 2                                                          ______________________________________                                         Primary G Values in Helium                                                     ______________________________________                                         He.sup.30 + e         G = 2.41                                                 He* (singlet)         G = 1.44                                                 He* (triplet)         G = 0.20                                                 ______________________________________                                    

The stopping power for 1 MeV electrons per gram is 1.10 for He compared to CO₂ as 1.00, which for molecular weights of 4 and 44 respectively, gives 34.5% of the energy deposited in CO₂ and 65.5% in helium for a 5% volume CO₂ system. For a 10% CO₂ by volume system, 52.6% of the energy is deposited in CO₂ and 47.4% in helium. Hence, in order to maintain any enhancement of the helium ion and excited state chemistry, the volume percent of CO₂ must be maintained at approximately 5%. Using the G values in Table 2, and assuming that ##EQU1## we see that a net of 2CO are produced for every He⁺ formed and He* does the same, then G(CO)≦8.1 in He/CO₂ mixture, i.e.,

    G(C)≦2G(He.sup.+ +He*).

An incremental G(CO) is expected from subexcitation electrons. The incremental subexcitation G values can be estimated as follows:

    ______________________________________                                         Process            G                                                           ______________________________________                                         Ionization         0.06                                                        Dissociative excitiation,                                                                         0.56                                                        10.5 eV state                                                                  Dissociative excitiation,                                                      7 eV state         0.29                                                        Total Incremental G                                                                               0.85                                                        ______________________________________                                    

This increment would permit a maximum theoretical G(CO)≦9, compared to 7.8 obtained in the best CO₂ radiolysis systems (Kummler, et al., 1977). Since the theoretical estimates are approximations, the maximum observed G(CO) could be somewhat higher or lower.

In FIG. 1 the results of computer analysis of experiments show that under realistic operating conditions the G(CO) is increased to 9.

The graph of FIG. 2 developed from observations obtained in tests confirms the expected yield with a routine scatter of the actual data illustrating by the compiled trend line the effect of changes in the amount of helium.

Industrial Applicability

Because of the need to replace fossil fuels with synthesized combustible fuels, it is desirable to develop from commonly available resources such as CO₂ a combustible fuel component CO which can be converted by the well known water gas process to H₂ for recycling the CO₂ and thus provides a basis for developing fuels from a common low cost available substance. Since radiolysis techniques are well known in the art, the radiolysis can currently be achieved, and the fusion reaction process provides an excellent radiation source in the form of high intensity neutrons, which can be used to convert available power into tangible fuel substances on a commercial basis as the efficiency of the fusion processes increases.

The article entitled "A Numerical Model of Carbon Dioxide Radiolysis" by R. Kummler et al., published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, 81,2451 (1977), sets forth the general state of the art and literature in the field in which this invention is made. 

We claim:
 1. A radiolytic process for deriving synthetic combustible fuel components from a separable constituent of an input gas having constituents dissociated in the presence of radiation comprising in combination the steps of,(a) mixing an inert gas that absorbs radiolytic energy with said input gas in an amount such that most of the radiation energy is absorbed in the inert gas, (b) exposing said mixture to neutron radiation for absorption by said inert gas and transfer of absorbed energy to said input gas thereby to dissociate its constituents by both direct radiation and energy transfer from radiation absorbed in said inert gas and reduce chances for explosive recombination of said dissociatable constituents, (c) and recovering from said mixture after said exposure said separable constituent from an atmosphere of said inert gas.
 2. The process defined in claim 1 wherein the input gas is CO₂ and the recovered separable constituent is CO.
 3. The process defined in claim 2 wherein the inert gas is helium.
 4. The process of dissociating a gaseous compound into its constituents radiolytically in the presence of radiation comprising the steps of mixing the compound in an atmosphere with an inert gas with sufficient inert gas to absorb most of the radiation energy, providing a radiolytic energy exchange from the radiation to the mixture of the inert gas and the compound sufficient to dissociate constituents of the compound by the radiolytic energy absorbed by the inert gas and retaining the dissociated constituents for recovery in mixture with said inert gas, thereby impeding reverse association of the dissociated constituents of the compound.
 5. The process of mixing an inert gas that absorbs radiolytic energy with a radiolytically dissociatable raw material gas in a proportion to absorb most of the radiolytic energy in the inert gas and deriving by exposure of the inert gas to radiolytic energy from energy absorbed by the inert gas from the radiolytic exposure a dissociated constituent of the raw material gas from the mixture subsequent to the exposure. 